<All yours.> Ashkon lets go of the body; this is mostly pretty subtle but it means all the tension he was holding to sit up straight is now the host's, the eye saccades track the host's attention.

He pulls his whole body into a stretch to get used to it and then feels the wall, trying to figure out what kind of stone it is, how it’s put together, if it’s sustained any damage since it was made...

And it really is more fun to watch the sunset while he’s doing that than to shut his eyes.

<You can take over whenever, just warn me.>

<I don't think I'm going to need to be fronting till my first class in the morning.>

Man. What would he even do with that much time besides waste it on stupid games. Well, he really should let Nocawe know he's okay, and see if he can find Pete for the same reason, and he was just thinking about sketching out hairstyles, and at some point they need to caffeinate to keep being constantly awake - or he supposes sleep is also an option he might as well take. Or - he should really be trying to imitate that thing Nocawe and Ashkon do where they just kind of come up with ways things could be better - they could... look at stars? Frolic in a meadow? Probably if those things are good ideas Ashkon will get to them anyway and he should prioritize things Ashkon can't do just as well. For values of "can't" that are not literal and don't take into account that, actually, probably Ashkon would be even better than him at having conversations with people he cares about.

Somehow he has enough of a to-do list to have to prioritize it and even thinking about that is exhausting and on some unendorsed level he kind of wants to just watch the sky darken and think about math.

<I don't think there's a big rush on any of that. Maybe Pete'll get more worried. Do you want to go find Pete tonight?>

He reflexively shrugs because why would he know if that's a good idea, but the considerations in favor are that Pete's life is actually pretty hard and dangerous and he might benefit from being tipped off about other places having better social services, and he might be worried, and once it's done they can start thinking about morph, and the considerations against are... that he's lost track of what time it is in America? But there basically isn't a time when Pete wouldn't want to be tipped off about the existence of a place where the wait for public housing isn't. Really if they catch him sleeping that just makes it more rather than less urgent. And that maybe Ashkon would rather he do that on his own time, but this is something he specifically mentioned as a thing he needed time to do, and Ashkon doesn't have anything scheduled. So it tentatively seems like that might be a good idea??

<I don't really trust my judgment but maybe? Unless you can think of some reason not to.>

<No, seems reasonable to me. I'll have to book a courier since there won't be a bus route but I can afford that.>

That's a cost he totally failed to consider. He stops to make sure he's keeping his thoughts private from the assorted third parties possibly eavesdropping because he needs a moment to consider whether to be bothered by the fact that he failed to think of that. He could just forget about it, say he's already put all those choices in Ashkon's hands - metaphorical hands, Ashkon doesn't have hands - no, Ashkon totally has hands, that's just the thing, isn't it.

But no, actually, he does want to keep tracking that kind of thing. He doesn't want to let the habits of thought he'd need to be his own person fall away.

Then again, he doesn't know enough for trying to think of things like that to work. It's not like he didn't specifically think it was worth asking if there were problems with his plans he hadn't considered. And on the gripping hand, sometimes friends offer each other nice things. Like help going places, or advice on navigating unfamiliar systems. It doesn't have to be complicated or a referendum on his humanity for him to just let Ashkon pay for a courier.

<Thank you.>

<You're welcome. If it bothers you you could get Vanda Nossëo citizenship and draw basic income, it'd be easy for you to save up enough to pay me back later - Tide's not part of Vanda Nossëo so I don't draw basic income myself.>

He heard about that and tried to ask questions, twice, and somehow he still doesn’t know anything about it. It has been repeatedly represented to him that citizens (he's not sure if there are any requirements for citizenship or if so what they are, except that apparently citizens have to follow the law? only that doesn't sound like it can possibly be a responsibility specific to citizenship, they can't actually mean they don't care what random foreigners do in their territory... can they?? maybe they actually don't care???) receive some unspecified amount of money under some unspecified circumstances. Attempts to learn anything more than that have failed completely and resulted in confusing conversations about whether escaping Hell makes him the next worst thing to a demon, or whatever the fuck that person was on about comparing having gone to ground in America to murder and torture. He has no idea what that was supposed to mean and Nocawe didn't really end up clarifying, just said he must have misunderstood something and then moved on to other topics. At this point he's assuming he will have an additional ten or so conversations where people point out that if he ??????? then he could ??????? and then profit and will never learn anything else about it.

<Well, uh, non-citizens can still be like, deported, if they break the law, but citizens generally affirmatively agree to obey it, which might not be an important distinction to everyone but is a distinction...>

Oh, is that the same basic thing as the reason he doesn't care what Ashkon does with him but hates the idea of being asked to do things himself? He probably doesn't want to agree to obey any laws so he supposes he probably shouldn't try to become a citizen.

<Okay. I can just cover it, I have enough spending money and had been budgeting for needing to buy my host food.>

Sounds fine. He’s curious how Ashkon came to have money in the first place.

<I have a scholarship. Tide wants to send people to study and live other places as a relationship-building measure and I won a scholarship to study music.>

That’s so cool.

<So, how do you hire a courier?>

<Online. You done fronting for now?>

<Sure.>

Ashkon takes over again, nods politely to the Elves, and heads back to their room to pick up the tablet Nocawe gave his host and book a courier. He has to write in the destination since the world isn't on the website yet, but he mentions that his host is a native of the world and wants to check up on a friend.

<Can we offer to take him with us?>

<I'm not sure. Since neither of us are ourselves Vanda Nossëo citizens. The courier will probably know?>

<Okay. I want to offer if it's a good idea, because, like.>

Because Pete had a social worker once who he said didn't do anything. Because public housing in America has wait times longer than it takes to head down a walkway and find a door. Because if even one more person dies, with no guarantee about where they'll go...

<Yeah, I get that.>

<I get to actually talk to him, right?>

Why must it be physically impossible to hold hands with Ashkon. Unfair.

<Yeah, you can front with him no problem, I don't really have much to say to him unless he wants me to introduce myself!>